Story+2009-05-23+East+Rutherford,+NJ

“Alright, New Jersey! (crowd cheers)…”
 * 23.05.09 East Rutherford, NJ, intro to “Badlands”**

“Good evening, neighbours! (crowd cheers) I’m so glad to be here in the swamps of Jersey tonight (crowd cheers) I’m so glad to be home (crowd cheers) now the E Street Band has come here tonight to fulfil our solemn vow…to rock the house! (crowd cheers) we didn’t come here tonight just, just to rock the house, we came here tonight ‘cause we wanna build a house (crowd cheers) right here in this room we wanna build a house tonight, we wanna take the fear that’s out there and build a house of love (crowd cheers) we wanna take the despair and we wanna build us a house of hope (crowd cheers) we wanna take doubt and build a house of faith (crowd cheers) we wanna take the sadness and the blues that’s out there and build a house of joy and happiness (crowd cheers) and we wanna take that cooling off and we wanna build a house of sexual healing! (crowd cheers) that’s right, that’s why we’re here…and we’re gonna use the bad wood and we’re gonna use the good wood…and we’re gonna use the bad news that’s out there and we’re gonna use the good news that’s here tonight…and we got all the tools we need right here on this stage and in these seats tonight (crowd cheers) that’s right, that’s right…but there’s just one thing…we can’t build that house by ourselves…that’s why we’re here night after night after night after night because we can’t build that house by ourselves…if we wanna build a house out of music and out of spirit and out of noise…well, the E Street Band is here tonight and we’re gonna do all we can to bring down the power of the music on you (crowd cheers) but, New Jersey, we need you to bring the noise (crowd cheers) now sing it like you mean it …”
 * 23.05.09 East Rutherford, NJ, middle of “Working on a Dream”**

“Thank you (crowd cheers) woo! (crowd cheers) Professor Roy Bittan on the piano (crowd cheers) gonna send this one out to Patti, Patti sends her love, I have a young daughter that is on tour also and so, uh, she’s with her tonight and she sends her best and we’ll send this one out to her…”
 * 23.05.09 East Rutherford, NJ, intro to “Kingdom of Days”**

“Thank you, New Jersey (crowd cheers) I wanna thank everyone for coming out to the shows we did here, first and tonight, thank you very much (crowd cheers) I wanna thank all our friends and neighbours for the long-time support of the E Street Band here in New Jersey, thank you (crowd cheers) we have some friends in the hall tonight, folks from the Community Foodbank of New Jersey, for more than 25 years the Community Foodbank has helped the struggling citizens right here in the Garden State, last year alone they helped more than half a million local people through hard times, if you pick up the newspapers these days, you see the millions of jobs that have been lost over the past several years, you see the hundreds of thousands of jobs lost just in the recent months and there are many, many folks going through very, very difficult times, organizations like the Community Foodbank of New Jersey are very often their only safety net, makes the difference between going to bed hungry or some nutritious food in their stomachs, it’s a time when we gotta stand up, assist our neighbours and please support the Community Foodbank of New Jersey (crowd cheers) oh…this was a song written by Stephen Foster in 1855, it’s called “Hard times come again no more”…”
 * 23.05.09 East Rutherford, NJ, intro to “Hard Times”**

“Thanks for coming out to the show tonight (crowd cheers)… (…) The incredible Little Steven (crowd cheers) Curtis King from the Sessions Band (crowd cheers) Garry W. Tallent (crowd cheers) Sister Soozie Tyrell (crowd cheers) Max is back - the Mighty Max Weinberg (crowd cheers) he’s happy (chuckles)…Professor Roy Bittan (crowd cheers) Charlie Giordano (crowd cheers) Cindy Mizelle (crowd cheers) Nils Lofgren (crowd cheers) and the biggest man you’ve ever seen: Clarence “Big Man” Clemons (crowd cheers) Jersey! (crowd cheers) Jersey! (crowd cheers) Jersey! (crowd cheers) Jersey! (crowd cheers) Jersey! (crowd cheers) Jersey! (crowd cheers) Jersey! (crowd cheers) Jersey! (crowd cheers) you’ve just seen the heart-stopping, pants-dropping, hard-rocking, earth-shocking, booty-shaking, love-making, Viagra-taking, history-making, legendary (crowd: “E Street Band”)(crowd cheers) that’s fucking right!...”
 * 23.05.09 East Rutherford, NJ, intro to “American Land”**

“You got nothing left, man, you can’t take any more (crowd cheers) you can’t take any more (crowd cheers) no, you don’t have it, you got nothing left, no (crowd cheers) are you trying to test me? (crowd cheers) do you want to test me? (crowd cheers) do you want to test me? (crowd cheers) the turnpike is closed, nobody goes home… (…) Hey, Steve! (Steve: “Yeah?”) I think it’s quitting time, baby (Steve: “Oh no”) we’re going home now (Steve: “Say it ain’t so”) I’m gonna go home, put on my pyjamas (Steve: “Yeah? Sounds pretty good”) get me a cheeseburger (Steve: “That sounds really good”) yes…all I wanna know, Steve…Steve, if it ain’t quitting time, what time is it? (Steve chuckles before going “It’s Boss-time”)…”
 * 23.05.09 East Rutherford, NJ, intro to “Glory Days”**

“Give me a D-chord…”
 * 23.05.09 East Rutherford, NJ, intro to “Mony Mony”**

“Thank you, Jersey! (crowd cheers) we’ll see you in the fall at Giants Stadium (crowd cheers) we’re gonna wreck the ball, we’re gonna take it down…goodnight, everybody (crowd cheers)…”
 * 23.05.09 East Rutherford, NJ, after “Mony Mony”**

//Compiled by Johanna Pirttijärvi//